Wendy Davis

Wendy Davis is a former Democratic senator from Fort Worth, Texas, known for her vocal stance on women’s issues. She stepped into the national spotlight in the summer of 2013 when she completed an 11-hour filibuster in an attempt to defeat a controversial abortion bill. The attention from her filibuster spurred Davis to run for governor of Texas in the 2014 election, winning the endorsements of many liberal institutions including the Human Rights Campaign and Ms.Magazine. While she didn’t win the election, Davis has remained dedicated to issues of gender equality. At SXSW in 2016 she announced the launch of Deeds Not Words, an online network that aims to galvanize the country's 38 million millennial women to work on voter participation and issues including sexual assault on campus, reproductive rights, equal pay, living wage, paid family leave, women’s health care, and affordable education.